Ash pan



May I, 1934. J APP 1,957,379

ASH PAN Filed Dec. 27, 1952 JApBINVENTOI-Q ATTOR N EY Patented May 1,P334 UNITED STATEE ATENT OFFlCE half to L. Birliel a Sons, Louisville,Ky., a firm composed of Louis F. Birkel, J. Will Birkel, and

Anna Birkel Application December 27, 1932, Serial No. 649,031

1 Claim.

This invention relates to ash pans of the character set forth in my U.S. Letters Eatent granted July 26, 1932 and No. 1,86%,23d and has forthe primary object, the provision of an improved means for mounting thepanels or wings to the pan which permits the panels or wings to eitherassume a depending position outwardly of the pan or to be readilyadjusted into operative position for directing ashes into the pan andalso provide eflicient handles for efiecting movement of the panels orwings and adapted to retain the latter in operative position.

With these and other objects in view this invention consists in certainnovel features of construction, combination and arran ement of parts tobe hereinafter more fully described and claimed.

For a complete understanding of my invention, reference is to be had tothe following description and accompanying drawing, in which Figure 1 isa top plan view illustrating an ash pan constructed in accordance withmy invention.

Figure 2 is a side elevation illustrating the same.

Figure 3 is an end elevation illustrating the device.

Figure 4 is a sectional View taken on the 4-4 of Figure 2.

Referring in detail to the drawing, the numeral 1 indicates asubstantially rectangular shaped pan adapted for positioning within anash pit under the usual grates of a furnace for the purpose of catchingashes dropping from the fire. One of the end walls is provided with ahinged handle 2 to facilitate the insertion and removal of the pan fromthe ash pit. The end walls at their upper edges are provided with cutWardly and downwardly curved flanges 3 to be engaged by a handle 4employed for carrying the pan from one place to another. The handle 4consists of a hand grip 5 having extending therethrough a flexibleelement 6 which may be in the form of a cable, chain or the like and theends thereof are connected to the apexes of substantially V-shapedmembers '7. The members 7 have their free ends bent to form hooks 8 toengage the flanges 3 for effectively and detachably connecting thehandle to the pan.

Wings or panels 9 are carried by the side walls of the pan and areconnected to said side walls by means of hinges 10. The hinges 10 eachinclude a pair of leaves having interfitting barrels and the barrels ofa pair of the hinges receive rods 11. One end of each rod is bentangularly line and upon itself to form a finger piece 12 while theopposite end of the rod is bent angularly to form a supporting arm 13engaging one face of a panel or wing and is slidably received by abracket is secured to the panel. Due to the connection of the arms 13with the panels or wings the rods 11 may be slid endwise and when in oneposition the finger pieces engage under the flanges 3 to support thepanels or wings in an upward and outward inclined position with respectto the side walls of the panel so as to direct the ashes into the panfrom the fire. By sliding the rods 11 in an opposite direction thefinger pieces 12 move out of engagement with the flanges whereby aperson may swing the panels or wings towards each other to direct theashes which may have accumulated thereon into the pan and also the wingsor panels may be swung away from each other to assume a dependingposition exteriorly of the pan, as shown in Figure 4.

While I have shown and described the preferred embodiment of myinvention, it will be understood that minor changes in construction,combination and arrangement of parts may be made without departing fromthe spirit and scope of my invention, as claimed.

Having described the invention, I claim:

An ash collecting device comprising a pan, wings for the side walls orsaid pan, hinge sections secured to the pan and to the wings, rodsconnecting the hinge sections and each of said rods having one end bentto form a finger piece and its opposite end bent to form a supportingarm, brackets secured to the wings and slidably receiving the supportingarms, and flanges on the end walls of the pan to be engaged by thefinger pieces for retaining the wings in operative position to directashes into the pan.

ANDREW J. APP.

